Jump to content

chasm

  • Posts

    8
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Country

    country-ZZ

Retained

  • Member Title
    Newbie
  1. @tms I have the N20 and not the SE, so I couldn't describe any differences between those units. As far as the N20, I find the attempt to write about what I hear to be difficult as I lack a refined understanding of generally accepted (on forums and reviews) terms to describe sound. The difference between the N200 and the N20 was immediately apparent to me, after a 40 minute wait between music on the first and the same music on the second. I did set the SPL to be close to equal, and found music on the N20 to have moved forward, soundstage wider, even greater clarity, and overall a greater sense of pleasant envelopment. Before the N200 I had an NAD M12 with the BluOS blade. The difference in SQ between that and the N200 was greaster than between the N200 and the N20. But I am happy with the improvement I got with the N20, and would recommend a listen if you can get the chance. CJ
  2. This is an attempt to try to crowdsource to get a new feature added to Conductor - Album Favorite. I had an N200 which I thought sounded very good. This year I upgraded to an N20, mainly because of the review on this site (thanks Chris). It sounds excellent, and will be my final server. I listen exclusively to local files on SSD, except when trying out new music. I found Conductor on Android to be somewhat clunky compared to BluOS which I had used for years. BluOS has two features which should be standard on every player - favorite album (along with song) and access to Amazon Music. These two are lacking on Conductor, although support tells me they are on the future feature list. When you ID a song as a favorite, it also shows up on the fave album list - but not the whole album, just the song. I find it overly clicky to have to navigate from the album list to the song then to the album to play the entire album, especially if the song is in a multi-album set with all the same covers. Favorite album is obviously a standard feature, and should be very easy to replicate from the code for favorite song. Aurender: bring your standard feature set up to industry standards!
  3. I've had a Lampizator DAC in my system for years - a level 2, to be exact. It was the single most effective upgrade of any addition to my system. Really, it was transformative, and I found my self drifting away, captured by the music. I look forward to moving to the 4s or better soon. As far as build quality goes, you're looking at a hand assembled unit, with rugged construction quality. Mine arrived via UPS direct from Poland. Plugged it in, turned it on, and I've never had a hint of an issue. I love this piece.
  4. Folks, I'd be interested to hear from the few who have compared the Bryston Player to CAPS 2.0. I'm looking to upgrade my digital audio experience and these two appear to provide the additional sound quality I seek. On the quality / convenience spectrum, I consider my self to be in the balanced middle. I'm not a computer audiophile hobbyist - I really don't like spending my time resolving technical issues. Right now I have a Vortexbox driving a Logitech Duet. Two things are moving me forward - the planned obsolescence of the Slim line, and the difference in quality between playing a CD and playing the same music with LMS. On the other hand, I do love the ease of use features provided by LMS. The Bryston BDP-1 has garnered positive reviews based on the quality of sound it provides. However, the user experience seems clunky and way behind even LMS. I attribute the quality of the Bryston sound to the modified sound card / no moving parts configuration. But that let me to think that the SoTM card etc within the CAPS 2.0 model might just provide the same quality of sound with improved ease of use via JRiver. I'd appreciate any responses, thx. I do know that Plug & Play is not yet a reality - it's more Plug & Play with it... Chuck
  5. Chris,<br /> Five stars. Best exposition on the subject I've seen anywhere, along with the rest of your material on this site.<br /> I have two questions:<br /> 1. Why J River over MediaMonkey, Foobar, or the others?<br /> 2. Can you recommend an online primer on setting up a PC from scratch? Like, once you get the hardware assembled, how do you load the OS? Basic stuff for us neophytes who are willing to dip a toe in the water.<br /> <br /> Thanks so much for your efforts.<br /> Chuck
  6. The Wavelength is a fairly high priced solution. If I start with an old XP laptop as server, that gives an idea about the approach I'm taking. I had thought seriously about getting an Olive 4 and be done with it, but that locks me in to a closed architecture, like buying an iPad. So if I go with an open architecture, rip to Flac, I can upgrade a piece at a time. I'm thinking about the Music Streamer II + as the inline USB Dac. It's getting good early reviews, and is reasonably priced. At the top of my current spectrum would be a Benchmark USB Dac. I'll look at Audiogon for used equipment as well. Any comments about your experience with the Streamer would be useful. Chuck
  7. Hi all, First forum post. This is a great source of info! I am designing and building a music server scenario. I'll buy and build piece by piece. I have an old XP laptop which I'd like to use as the server processor, which would prevent the use of a sound card such as the Lynx, so often referenced here. Can a piece of equipment between the laptop and the preamp make up for this? An acquaintance suggests a Duet, but I don't see using that in the long run. Is there a way to add a sound card between the laptop and a DAC? Or a reasonably priced Dac with a sound card contained therein? In general, I plan to stay with a PC based system, running XP or Win7, and use MediaMonkey via wireless remote access. I could go with a new server & sound card, but would prefer to build it up a little bit at a time. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Chuck PS: Like jazz? Check out Charlie Haden's Nocturne and The Ballad of the Fallen.
  8. I spoke with Charles of Olive today. One of the things he told me that I had not seen before was that though you can store music files from the 4/4HD to A NAS or equivalent storage device for backup purposes, the content is stored in an encrypted fashion, only usable by Olive. While you can import your content in the allowable formats, saved content can't be used for other purposes. So if down the road you wish to upgrade to another unit, it has to be Olive for the data to be accessible.
×
×
  • Create New...